Surviving Capitalism (Not) : NYT Coverage of 'Cuban Missile Crisis'

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

NYT Coverage of 'Cuban Missile Crisis'

Click here to access article by Michael McGehee from his blog Truth Addict.

There is much to recommend this as clarifying some issues regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. I well remember that day, and I was terrified. Few people realize how close we came to a nuclear Armageddon. However, neither this author or many others such as Noam Chomsky (see this) give Kennedy any credit for the peaceful solution of the crisis. I'm convinced after read the outstanding and well researched book entitled JFK and the Unspeakable by James W. Douglass that we would have experienced a nuclear holocaust if any other US president had been presiding at the time of the crisis. Of course, credit for the peaceful solution also goes to Khrushchev and a Soviet submarine officer who defied orders to launch missiles.